Cooking with wine

[SallyDIY]

I'm not a big wine drinker so it's rarely in the house. I've found a lot of recipes that use wine, though, so I thought it would be a smart thing to start keeping it around just for cooking. Does the wine brand matter a lot with cooking? I was going to just get a bottle of cheap domestic white and maybe a bottle of red to keep on hand.

 

[brewgal]

Really, it just depends on what you are cooking. You certainly don't have to buy the most expensive bottle to cook with. You might want to go a little higher than the $3 bottle though. The basic rule of thumb is if you wouldn't drink it buy itself then don't cook with it either.

 

[SallyDIY]

Oh, good grief, I wasn't thinking THAT cheap! Can you actually buy wine for only $3? I can't even imagine that something that cheap would be any good. I was thinking more in the $15 to $20 range. Stuff that I wouldn't probably serve with a fancy dinner but isn't bad for casual entertaining or a glass of wine in the evening.

 

[treets]

My sister has been bugging me to do this and I think for her birthday next month I am going to give it a go. We always celebrate a birthday dinner with all of us and the birthday person is not allowed to help but she might randomly yell things from across the room at me if I am doing it wrong.

 

[wild]

I use a cheap white wine (Sutter Homes) for my turkey brine and a cheap red (same maker as the white) to smoke my bird and create a gravy.

 

[brewsky]

Oh, good grief, I wasn't thinking THAT cheap! Can you actually buy wine for only $3? I can't even imagine that something that cheap would be any good. I was thinking more in the $15 to $20 range. Stuff that I wouldn't probably serve with a fancy dinner but isn't bad for casual entertaining or a glass of wine in the evening.

Yes, you can actually buy wine as cheap as $3/bottle, lol. (And the $5 wine isn't bad; you should try it!) IDK about your household, but in ours, $15-$20 for a bottle of wine isn't cheap! I know you can spend as much on wine as you can afford, what with wine going up into the hundreds of dollars per bottle, but I don't think I'd spend that much on a bottle of cooking wine.

 

[bluebrew]

If I were you, I would buy a wine that's specifically meant for cooking, as opposed to a drinking wine. I would probably look to spend somewhere in the $8-$10 range, as cheaper wines definitely don't cook as well as the better wines.

 

[Pat]

I use an inexpensive dark red to give my spaghetti sauce a good taste. I would not drink the wine but it Osgood in sauce. The bottle of wine was on sale and was under $5.

 

[BrewJen]

I generally buy wine in the $8-10 range when I'm looking for cooking wine, since I often end up drinking the rest that evening. Also, they now have wine in 4 packs with small bottles, which can be useful if you don't want to have an open bottle or drink it.

 

[Isabellas2007]

I usually use some of the different Tabor Hill wines. These are where I was from. However, they also make some great cooking wines!

 

[edvisual]

Wine does add some very good flavors to many kinds of food.
Now, it depends on everybody's "strategy" or taste in cooking.. But wine totally adds something special when cooking with red meat.

 

[BeerPong]

The alcohol burns away so you can really use any wine and the cheaper the better since it won't put a hole in your pocket.

 

[courtney1985]

Oh my I love to cook with wine. I use a red wine and mix it with a little butter, slowly boil it and poor it over a good cooked steak just the way you want it. You would not believe the taste it gives. You would not guess where I got the recipe either. From the Ritz Hotel. This is a 5 star hotel chain and they served me this meal once. It was amazing so I had to try it. I must say you should try it too. It's so good!